Ever heard of Capsicum?
It comes from red hot peppers, it's what gives them their spicy taste.
Small levels of capsicum can also be found in paprika, which is used to flavorless spicy foods like ketchup, cheese, and salads.
Capsicum can bring benefits to your health, but it can also have negative effects on your health.
It can raise adrenaline levels.
Adrenaline forms part of our fight or flight response. Capsaicin has been shown to raise adrenaline levels via acting on TRPV-1 receptors. (Watanabe et al., 2001).
This can be good in short-term but having raised adrenaline levels regularly can damage your blood vessels, increase the risk of heart attacks or stroke. It can lead even further and cause anxiety, weight gain, headaches, and insomnia.
Capsicum can lower glycine activity.
Glycine is powerful.
It’s the longevity amino acid that can be taken as a supplement.
One key effect of glycine is a reduction in anxiety via working on the glycinergic system, which is very closely related to the GABAergic system.
Capsicum can lower the activity of glycine, which could increase your anxiety.
Positive effects.
Despite having some negative effects on your health, Capsicum can also have some positive effects on your health…
· Antimicrobial properties.
An antimicrobial is an agent that kills microorganisms or stops their growth.
· Antifungal properties.
This can have antiseptic, anti-inflammatory, astringent, and fungicidal properties. Some can even stimulate new cell growth.
· Insecticidal, Anthelmintic and Larvicidal Effects
Prevents of some diseased, treat infections of animals with parasitic worms.
· Antioxidant Properties
Antioxidants are molecules that fight free radicals in your body. Free radicals are compounds that can cause harm if their levels become too high in your body.
· Immunosuppressant activities
Treats autoimmune diseases.
· Analgesic and Antiplatelet Effects
Relief of pain.
(Batiha et al., 2020)
The Takeaway.
Food can affect your biology.
In fact, cayenne pepper would have stronger effects at exacerbating anxiety.
Understanding this is the first step of applying Cosmetic Neurology.
Want to learn more?
